Contents
1. ING Instrumentation in Semester 2002B (including non-availability
of UES and INTEGRAL)
2. Time-share Agreement with TNG for NL and UK Observers
3. The ING Service Programme
4. Definition of Dark, Grey and Bright Time
5. Telescope Support
1. ING Instrumentation in Semester 2002B
----------------------------------------
General Information
Detailed information on ING instrumentation offered for the forthcoming
semester can be found in the ING web pages at
http://www.ing.iac.es/Astronomy/observing/instruments.html
and guidelines for proposal submission can be found at
http://www.ing.iac.es/Astronomy/observing/INGinfo_home.html
Applicants should refer to these pages for the latest information.
Occasionally highly rated proposals may not be awarded time due to
scheduling constraints.
Due to construction of the Adaptive Optics Nasmyth platform (GRACE),
UES and INTEGRAL will not be available in this semester. In the
meantime, access to high-resolution spectroscopic instrumentation has
been secured through a time-share agreement with the Italian National
Telescope Galileo (TNG) on La Palma. For details see the following
section of this INGNEWS issue.
Instrumentation Overview
WHT http://www.ing.iac.es/Astronomy/telescopes/wht/
---
WHT applicants are encouraged to submit proposals for larger time
applications. For the UK community, the PATT2 application form
allows a 2-page scientific justification for proposals for six or
more nights.
The following instrument/detector configurations are available:
Instrument Detector
ISIS BLUE EEV12
ISIS RED TEK4
AUX-port TEK1
PRIME 2xEEV Mosaic
AUTOFIB2/WYFFOS TEK6
INGRID 1kx1k HgCdTe
NAOMI/INGRID 1kx1k HgCdTe (shared-risks basis)
Notes
NAOMI/INGRID: Observations will be carried out in service mode.
AUTOFIB2: The large fibres module has been withdrawn.
WHT visitor instrument contacts are:
PN.S Nigel Douglas, ndouglas@astro.rug.nl
SAURON Tim de Zeeuw, tim@strw.leidenuniv.nl
S-CAM Michael Perryman, mperryma@astro.estec.esa.nl
Ultracam Vik Dhillon, vik.dhillon@sheffield.ac.uk
INT - http://www.ing.iac.es/Astronomy/telescopes/int/
---
The following instrument/detector configurations are available:
Instrument Detector
WFC 4xEEV
IDS 235/500 EEV10 or TEK5
INT visitor instrument contacts are:
CIRSI Richard McMahon, rgm@ast.cam.ac.uk
Observing time is allocated in blocks of one week on average, and
observing
programmes shorter than *4* nights are not accepted, unless explicitly
agreed in advance by the Head of Astronomy or the Director of ING.
JKT - http://www.ing.iac.es/Astronomy/telescopes/jkt/
---
Only one instrument/detector configuration is available:
Instrument Detector
Direct imaging 2kx2k SITe2
The JKT only supports one common-user instrument, and private
instruments
are not accepted. Although there is no formal limit on the duration of
observing runs on the JKT, short proposals are not encouraged, and
observing time is usually allocated in blocks of ~1 week.
2. Time-share Agreement with TNG for NL and UK Observers
-------------------------------------------------------
As part of a collaboration between ING and TNG, NL and UK observers
may apply to use three TNG instruments. These are:
+ The high resolution spectrograph, SARG
+ The near infrared camera-spectrometer, NICS, in non-AO
spectroscopy mode only
+ The multi-object low-resolution optical spectrograph, DOLORES
A minimum of five nights is available in total in semester 2002B
to the NL and UK communities, and in return the Italian community
obtains access to the WHT for the same number of nights. More than
five nights may be shared if such demand is balanced between both
telescopes.
For further details on the TNG observing guidelines and for
instrumentation details, refer to:
http://www.tng.iac.es/
Select "instruments" for detailed information on SARG, NICS and
DOLORES.
SARG is a high efficiency echelle spectrograph designed for the spectral
range from 370 up to 900 nm, and for resolutions from R=29,000 up to
R=164,000. Both single object and long slit (up to 30 arcsec) observing
modes are possible. A dioptric camera images the cross-dispersed spectra
onto a mosaic of two 2048X4096 CCDs.
NICS is the TNG infrared (0.9-2.5 µm) imaging spectrometer, utilising
a HgCdTe Hawaii 1024x1024 array. Its observing capabilities include
imaging (4.2'x4.2' FoV), high-throughput low resolution spectroscopy
(RS=50-500), medium resolution spectroscopy (max-R=2500), imaging
polarimetry, spectropolarimetry and, when coupled to the adaptive optics
module, near diffraction limited imaging. It is offered to NL and UK
applicants in non-AO spectroscopic mode only.
DOLORES (Device Optimized for the LOw RESolution) is a focal reducer
instrument installed at the Nasmyth B focus of the TNG. The detector is
a Loral thinned and back-illuminated 2048x2048 CCD. The scale is 0.275
arcsec per pixel, which yields a field of view of about 9.4 x 9.4
arcmin.
The instrument allows imaging through broad and narrow band filters as
well as spectroscopic observations with resolving powers between RS=300
and RS=3000.
Please note that NL and UK applicants for SARG, NICS or DOLORES should
apply using their standard PATT/NL form and should send these to their
own national TAGs. DO NOT APPLY DIRECTLY TO TNG. (CAT observers should
apply for TNG time in the usual way). Successful NL and UK applicants
to
TNG will qualify for EC funding under the auspices of the EC's Access to
Research Infrastructures Programme to cover travel, accommodation and
subsistence costs, assuming they meet the criteria for eligibility. For
further details of this general scheme see:
http://www.otri.iac.es/eno/
3. The ING Service Programme
----------------------------
Prospective applicants to the JKT Service Programme are reminded
that due to the impact of cost savings at ING, the scheme of service
observing carried out by observatory personnel will be discontinued
on the JKT from the end of Semester 2002A. The INT and WHT Service
Programmes will continue in their present format until the end of
Semester 2003A, when the INT Service Programme will also be
discontinued.
4. Definition of Dark, Grey and Bright Time
-------------------------------------------
Beginning with Semester 2002B, the definition of dark, grey and bright
categories used in creating the telescope schedules will change. The
historical method, based upon the fraction of each night that is
moonless,
does not give a consistent mapping in terms of sky brightness. The
method
to be adopted is based on the fractional illumination of the Moon, k:
Dark: 0.00 .le. k .lt. 0.25
Grey: 0.25 .le. k .lt. 0.65
Bright: 0.65 .le. k .le. 1.00
The ING exposure time calculator,SIGNAL, has been modified to offer an
option specifying 'typical' sky brightnesses for dark, grey and bright
time, corresponding to V=21.5, 19.75 and 18.50 magnitudes/arcsec^2
respectively. Proposals for darker conditions must of course be
justified
scientifically.
A short article explaining the reasons for this change will appear in
the forthcoming edition of the ING Newsletter, and a longer article is
available as ING Technical Note 127:
http://www.ing.iac.es/Astronomy/observing/manuals/man_tn.html
5. Telescope Support
--------------------
Astronomical support is provided on the first night of each run
on the WHT, INT and JKT. Telescope Operator (TO) support is provided
for each night of all WHT runs. INT Wide Field Camera runs have TO
support for the first two nights only, and INT IDS runs of six or more
nights will have TO support for the first four nights only. TO support
is not provided on the JKT.
Observers are reminded that filter and/or grating changes within a run
will be accommodated provided that they have been explicitly requested
in the telescope proposal. However, due to limited human resources,
additional changes to the instrumental configuration may not be
accommodated.
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